Disputation Literature in the near East and Beyond / edited by Enrique Jiménez and Catherine Mittermayer.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Jiménez, Enrique, 1985- editor.

Mittermayer, Catherine, editor.

Series:

Studies in ancient Near Eastern records ; Volume 25.

Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records ; Volume 25

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Debate poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (VIII, 470 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2020]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Disputation literature is a type of text in which usually two non-human entities (such as trees, animals, drinks, or seasons) try to establish their superiority over each other by means of a series of speeches written in an elaborate, flowery register. As opposed to other dialogue literature, in disputation texts there is no serious matter at stake only the preeminence of one of the litigants over its rival. These light-hearted texts are known in virtually every culture that flourished in the Middle East from Antiquity to the present day, and they constitute one of the most enduring genres in world literature. The present volume collects over twenty contributions on disputation literature by a diverse group of world-renowned scholars. From ancient Sumer to modern-day Bahrain, from Egyptian to Neo-Aramaic, including Latin, French, Middle English, Armenian, Chinese and Japanese, the chapters of this book study the multiple avatars of this venerable text type.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The Sumerian Precedence Debates

3. An Introduction to the Sumerian School Disputes

4. “She was dumbstruck and took it to heart”

5. The Tamarisk, the Date-Palm and the King

6. Antiques in the King’s Libraries

7. La «fable» égyptienne du Corps et de la Tête (tablette Turin CG 58004)

8. Opposing Voices in Ancient Egyptian Literature

9. Those Who Cannot Do, Reign?

10. Disputations in Syriac Literature

11. The Debate of Spring and Autumn in Arabic Literature

12. Night and Day in Islamicate Literary Disputation

13. Disputation Poems in Medieval Hebrew Literature in Spain

14. Debate in Iranian Literary Culture

15. The Rhetoric of Persian Verbal Contests

16. A Survey of Disputation Texts in Ottoman Literature

17. Dispute Poems in Armenian

18. Tradition and Innovation in the Early Medieval Latin Debates

19. Owls, Nightingales, Cuckoos and Other Feathered Disputants

20. De la dispute des clercs au dialogue des acteurs

21. Neo-Aramaic Dialogue and Dispute Poems

22. Modern Vernacular Disputation Poems from Bahrain and the Wider Gulf

23. Ludic Disputations in the East-Asian Cultural Sphere

Index of Contestants

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781501510212

1501510215

9781501510274

1501510274

OCLC:

1198929563